We’ve already discussed the fact that the Boston Bruins own a substantial all-time edge over the Vancouver Canucks on the ice. That historical domination extends beyond win-loss records, though, as the Bruins front office scored an enormous victory over Canucks management in the Cam Neely trade.

Even after 25 years, the Bruins franchise continues to benefit from the aftershocks of that earth-shaking trade. It is also safe to assume that many Canucks fans look at the day the move was made (June 6, 1986) as one of the darkest days in the franchise’s history and surely one of the NHL’s most lopsided deals.

Let’s take a look at the initial terms of the trade first.

Vancouver received: Barry Pederson

Pederson began his career on fire. He produced 92 points in his first full season (1981-82), 107 in 82-83 and 116 in 83-84. His final two seasons with Boston raised some red flags, though; he only played in 22 games in 84-85 but bounced back a bit in 85-86 with 76 points in 79 games. He played some solid hockey for Vancouver in his first two seasons (76 points in 86-87, 71 in 87-88) but injuries wrecked the rest of his career. He ended up scoring 197 points in 233 games for the Canucks, getting traded to Pittsburgh on January 8, 1990.

To be fair to Vancouver, there’s at least a slight chance Neely might not have flourished as a Canucks forward. He never scored more than 39 points or 21 goals in his first three seasons in Vancouver. Of course, he turned 21 on the day of that trade, so the Canucks management might have been a teeny bit hasty with that move. You’d think that Vancouver would have been more patient with the ninth overall pick of the ’83 draft, but let’s not pile on too much. (OK, the rest of this post probably qualifies as piling on, but still …)

Neely emerged almost immediately upon arriving in Boston, scoring 36 goals and 72 points in his first season with the Bruins. As you probably know, he went on to become a Hall of Famer despite having his career cut short by injuries.

Neely’s career was prolific enough to make Canucks fans wistful, but Glen Wesley’s years with Boston – and the assets the Bruins received from trading him – make the deal even more lopsided. Wesley spent seven seasons in Boston, making one All-Star team in the 88-89 season.

Now, it’s not really fair to beat up on Vancouver for trades they weren’t actually involved in, but the branching paths of trades that were made possible by acquiring Wesley are still making an impact today. Using a fantastic timeline by “The Hipster Jew” as inspiration, let’s take a look at the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon-like path of the trade.

They then traded McLaren with their 2004 fourth rounder (Torrey Mitchell) to the San Jose Sharks in 2003 for Jeff Hackett and Jeff Jillson.

Samsonov qualified as Joe Thornton’s first great running mate/beneficiary, but they eventually traded him to the Edmonton Oilers for Marty Reasoner, Yan Stastny and the Oilers’ second round pick in ’06, which ended up being … Milan Lucic. (Yup, that’s right, the Bruins found their closest heir to Neely thanks to the Neely trade. Yikes.)

The Bruins turned Jeff Jillson into Brad Boyes (from San Jose in ’04) and then Boyes to Dennis Wideman (from the St. Louis Blues in ’07) .

Wideman was eventually traded with Boston’s 2010 first round pick (Derek Fortbort) to the Florida Panthers for Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell before the ’10 draft.

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So, in the most direct way, the Bruins won that trade thanks to Neely’s great career and seven quality seasons of Wesley. That being said, the additional assets the B’s acquired add insult to injury, even if other NHL teams were involved. The Bruins acquired 2/3 of their top scoring line (Horton and Lucic) indirectly thanks to the Neely trade, so you cannot blame Canucks fans if they think to that pivotal moment in ’86 whenever Boston’s best trio comes through.

On Friday, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced that the Oilers captain will have a hearing for the hit to the head he delivered on Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy.

McDavid was only given a two-minute penalty on the play. Leddy missed a good deal of time in the game, but he eventually passed concussion protocol.

To make matters even worse for the Isles, McDavid ended up scoring the game-winner in overtime.

McDavid isn’t a dirty player by any means, but the league definitely has to do something here. Even though Leddy has his head down, McDavid can’t just make contact with his head in the manner in which he did.

Like a lot of other leagues, the NHL tends to favor their star players when it comes to handing out discipline, which is totally understandable, too. So this should be an interesting decision.

Losing their franchise player for any amount of time would be devastating to Edmonton’s slim playoff hopes. They’re currently six points behind the Minnesota Wild for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.

After digging themselves into a significant hole early on this season, the Philadelphia Flyers found a way to get themselves back in the playoff conversation thanks to an outstanding last few weeks.

Thanks to some steady goaltending from Carter Hart and a more aggressive approach overall, the Flyers were able to rattle off 12 victories in 14 games between Jan. 14 – Feb. 17. That’s very impressive. But last night’s loss to Montreal combined with Carolina’s win over the Florida Panthers was a serious blow to their chances of playing meaningful games in the spring.

Philadelphia dropped a 5-2 decision to the first-place Lightning, who were playing their second game in two nights when they went head-to-head against the Flyers. But anytime should be able to stomach a loss to Tampa Bay. Thursday’s no-show in Montreal, however, is a different story.

From the start of the game to the very end, they were dominated by a quicker, hungrier and better Canadiens team. The Habs aren’t one of the elite teams in the conference, but they went into last night’s game sitting in the first Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. Still, the Flyers couldn’t afford to drop those two points if they wanted to stay in the hunt.

For the second game in a row, Hart was pulled after playing just 10 minutes. This time, he got the hook after allowing a goal to Brendan Gallagher from a horrendous angle.

“We’re not in the position we’re in without him,” James van Riemsdyk said of Hart, per Philly.com. “He’s come in and does a tremendous job. There are games like that when there are going to be tough bounces. Again, he has nothing to hang his head on. He’s been unbelievable since he got here.”

So going into Saturday’s Stadium Series game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia finds themselves eight points behind their state rivals, who are in the third spot in the Metropolitan Division. A win at Lincoln Financial Field would bring them to within six points, but they’d still have Carolina and Columbus ahead of them.

Given the position they’re in, they have to absolutely unload Simmonds before Monday’s 3 p.m. ET deadline. Holding on to him and losing him for nothing at the end of the year isn’t an option. Although it’s hard not to blame the players for the way they played on Thursday night, they deserve credit for not giving up on the season when they easily could have done so in December, January and February.

For now though, it looks like they’ll have to start looking toward next season.

1. Brendan Gallagher, Montreal Canadiens. The Montreal Canadiens were dominant on Thursday night in a 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, turning in one of their best overall performances of the season. At the center of it was Brendan Gallagher who recorded his first career hat trick to continue his great season. After his performance on Thursday he is now up to a team-leading 26 goals.

2. Tomas Hertl, San Jose Sharks. The Pittsburgh Penguins were no match for the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night who looked like the Stanley Cup contender that they are. Tomas Hertl was one of the big driving forces in the win as he scored a pair of power play goals, including one in the game’s first two minutes to set the tone for what would go on to be a decisive win. This game ended up getting very heated late.

3. Justin Williams, Carolina Hurricanes. The Carolina Hurricanes are back in a playoff spot after their come-from-behind win over the Florida Panthers. Captain Justin Williams had a huge game by scoring a pair of goals, including one off of his face. His second goal was a bit more conventional and went in the books as the game-winner. Nino Neiderreiter and Teuvo Teravainen also had multi-point games for the Hurricanes in the win.

More Notable Performances From Thursday

The Dallas Stars were 5-2 winners over the St. Louis Blues, snapping what had been an 11-game winning streak. Jamie Benn eclipsed the 20-goal mark in the win for the Stars.

The Nashville Predators reclaimed the top spot in the Central Division with a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. You can read about it and what is ahead for the Predators here.

Big night for New Jersey Devils goalie Cory Schneider as he recorded his first shutout of the season in blanking what is left of the Ottawa Senators’ roster.

The Arizona Coyotes are not going away. Their overtime win against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday was huge and now has them just one point out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference. Given where they were coming from a year ago and the injury situation they have dealt with this season it is an impressive accomplishment to still be in this race.

Highlights of the Night

This sequence early in the Washington Capitals-Toronto Maple Leafs game was bonkers.

Connor McDavid recorded his 25th multi-point game of the season in leading the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders. One of those points was the game-winner in overtime. His 25 multi-point games are the third-most in the NHL this season. He also had a questionable hit on Nick Leddy in the first period that could result in a review from the NHL’s DoPS. Eventful night. [NHL PR]